Teach Evolution better?

[Thomas Lammers]

At 08:46 AM 7/3/00 -0700, you wrote:
>Anyone who listens to the answers given in Jay Leno's
>on-the-street interviews of people, in which he asks hard
>questions like "What do we celebrate on the 4th of July?" or "How
>many sides does a triangle have?", knows that our education
>problem in the U.S.  reaches far deeper than understanding
>evolution!

I wouldn't get too worked up over Leno's little bits.  Obviously, you never
see the clips of the many people who answer correctly.  The right answer
isn't funny, and, after all, he makes his living by making us laugh.  And I
strongly suspect that many of the alleged dimwits he interviews know the
correct answers, but realize that they'll never get their mug on TV if they
aren't amusing.


Thomas G. Lammers, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor and Curator of the Herbarium (OSH)
Department of Biology and Microbiology
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901-8640 USA

e-mail:       lammers at uwosh.edu
phone:      920-424-7085
fax:           920-424-1101

Plant systematics; classification, nomenclature, evolution, and
biogeography of the Campanulaceae s. lat.
-----------------------------------------------------------
"Today's mighty oak is yesterday's nut that stood his ground."
                                                 -- Anonymous